“As recently as the early 19th century, domestic violence was protected by law,” said Debra Faircloth, community advocate for the Domestic Abuse Resistance Team. “That’s where the phrase ‘rule of thumb’ comes from. In America and England, if you didn’t beat your wife with a stick or rod any bigger than your thumb, then that was acceptable. The idea is you were supposed to control your wife — keep her behavior in check.”

The Grambling High Foundation and the United States Department of Justice have sent an agreement on Lincoln Preparatory School’s desegregation obligations to Federal District Judge Robert James to review.

The foundation had until Tuesday to finish negotiations after James ordered Grambling State University to hand over control of the laboratory schools to the GHF with desegregation obligations, said Gordan Ford, Lincoln Prep executive director.

“Right now, what we agreed upon is confidential,” he said. “We just have to wait to see what Judge James says.”